Tehran, Iran, January 12
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
There are eight factors that hamper the export of goods from Iran to Russia, Deputy Chairman of Iran-Russia Joint Chamber Qadir Ghiafeh said.
Speaking at a conference on Iran-Russia trade obstacles, he said the major problem is high tariffs charged by Russia, Fars news agency reported January 12.
Among other problems he named lack of insurance for market risks as well as transportation infrastructure.
Lack of export strategy both with enterprises and the government is another problem, he said.
Iran has problems with marketing in Russia as well, Ghiafeh stated, adding prices of Iranian-made goods cannot compete in the Russian market.
He concluded that there is a high wall of mistrust between Iranian and Russian tradesmen which hampers bilateral trade as well.
Russia's annual import is close to $300 billion. Iran shares less than one percent of it. Iran exported $151 million worth of products to Russia between March and October last year.
About $80 million of the amount fell to the share of agricultural products. In other words, agricultural products account for more than half of the value of exports from Iran to Russia.
On the same day, CEO of Iran Trade Development Bank Ali Salehabadi said the bank has opened a line of credit worth €20 million for exports to Russia.
"We are in talks to turn the line into €300 million," he stated.